The invention relates to a sliding bearing. The invention also relates to a process for producing a sliding bearing and to the use of a sliding bearing.
For cost reasons, sintered bearings are usually employed in relatively small electric motors as are used, for example, as a comfort drive in motor vehicles as a seat adjustment drive or as a power-window drive. These bearings are produced by axial pressing of the material. However, radial undercuts (radial grooves) cannot be produced by this production process. Such sintered bearings are embodied as spherical or cylindrical sliding bearings. Here, in the case of spherical sliding bearings, the self-alignment of the bearing with respect to a housing is decisively influenced by the frictional engagement of additional components, resulting in a relatively high degree of scatter under similar conditions. Furthermore, the additional components (spring plates) in combination with the assembly and testing steps make the known spherical sliding bearings relatively expensive to produce. In the case of cylindrical sliding bearings, no self-alignment takes place at all, with the result that there is a relatively high risk of service life-reducing, so-called edge running. Furthermore, when the cylindrical sliding bearing is pressed in a force-fitting manner into a housing, the tolerances and cylinder shape defects of the housing are transferred to the bearing bore. Moreover, as a result of additional effects caused by different thermal expansions between the housing, the bearing and the shaft, a relatively large bearing play is required. This can result in undamped contact between the bearing and the housing, promoting the transmission of structure-borne noise. As seen overall, conventional bearings therefore have some negative properties which can only be avoided through a relatively high outlay on manufacturing, with correspondingly associated relatively high production costs.